Automatic hammer.



No. 720,636. Y PATENTED FEB. 17, 1903. E. H. SWIFT. AUTOMATIC HAMMER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28| 1902.

ma Nonms Pneus co. Puoauno.. wAsmunwm o. c

UNITED STATES.

VP /iTENT OFFICE,

ERNEST H. Sl/VIFT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

AUTOMATIC HAIVIIVIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,636, dated February 17,'1903.

Application filed April 28, 1902.

To @ZZ when/t it Wtay concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST H. SWIFT, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Hammers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to automatic hammers; and it has for one of its objects the provision of a device of this character in which the strength of the blow may be Varied and when once adjusted may be retained.

Myinventionl1as,furthermore,foritsobject the provision of means whereby the speed of the hammer may be controlled'so as to strike a certain number of blows per minute.

The hammer forming the subject of this invention is especially designed for use in con nection with the art of gold-beating in which a package of gold is to be beaten out or thinned until the several layers have arrived at a state in which they are put on the market under the name of gold-leaf. Many attempts have been made to construct a device whereby this result would be accomplished, and after many failures in producing good work the old method of using handoperated hammers or mallets has been found most satisfactory and is in use to the present day.

In beating gold-leaf many peculiar circumstances have to be taken into consideration when it is desired to produce a perfectly-Y even leaf of standard quality, these circumstances including the resistance afforded to the hammer-blow by the package of gold, which presents more or less resiliency and tends to throw the hammer back or to let the same rebound, so that practically it will become necessary to exert a downward force on the hammer rather than an upward force to raise the hammer. There is no doubt that these circumstances facilitate the beating of gold-leaf and to a great extent avoid the hardship which would naturally fall upon the workman if he was obliged to raise the Weight of the hammer at every stroke, this weight ranging between live and eight pounds, and it is especially on account of the difficulty in delivering a blow of proper strength on the material that previous attempts in building auto- Serial No. 104,914. (No model.)

matic hammers for gold-beating had to be abandoned. Inasmuch as there is a vast difference in the resistance offered by the gold when first subjected to the action of the goldbeaters hammer to be roughed than that exhibited after the gold has been beaten nearly to its required thickness, my inven-l tion includes as one of its features means whereby the strengthv of the hammer-blow may be maintained for a certain length ot time and gradually lessened as the product acquires its required thickness.

The hammer forming the subject of my present invention is preferably mounted for reciprocation, independent means being provided for operating said hammer in opposite directions-viz., one device being adapted for raising the hammer to the required height, while the other device is employed for imparting to the stroke such energy as is required for the blow to be struck. The variation of the strength of the blow maybe of course accomplished in many dierent ways, and in a mechanically-operated automatic hammer considerable difficulty has been eX- perienced to produce this result, more especially so since the factor of the weight of the hammer itself plays a Veryimportant part to be taken into consideration, this weight, of course, remaining constant throughout the gold-beating operation and it becoming necessary, therefore, to vary the energy accordingly. Hence my invention includes means whereby the initial point of supplying energy to the hammer during its striking stroke may be varied so as to supply a full force or downward pull to the hammer immediately upon its arrival at its raised or elevated position, while, on the other hand, said hammer may be permitted to gravitate for a short distance before said force is applied, it being of course understood that the blow struck by the hammer depends upon the time when energy is `supplied thereto-viz., the sooner downward power is imparted to the hammer the heavier will be the blow and the later said power will be applied the lighter the blow will be.

In connection with the variation of the time when the energy will be supplied to the descending hammer my invention includes, furthermore, means whereby the energy, per Se, may be varied, so that not only the time IOO of applying this energy, but also the amount of such energy may be varied simultaneously or one independently of the other. Furthermore, it has been found desirable in practice to increase the number of blows in a certain given time, as the gold is gradually thinned and less energy is gradually applied to the hammer, and hence my invention includes means whereby the rapidity of the reciprocation of the hammer may be varied in accordance with the condition of the gold under process of being beaten. It is of course evident that all these results may be achieved by an organization of various mechanical devices, and I have shown in the drawings a system in which electricity is used as a motive power for operating the hammer, and for the sake of simplicity in construction the hammer is formed directly by a core operable in opposite directions by a pair of oppositelyeffective solenoids, one of which is super-posed to the other and the upper one of which serves to raise the core, while the lower one supplies to the core the energy required for the hammer-blow, according to the condition of the gold to be beaten.

It should of course be understood that my invention is not conlined to the use of an electrically-operated device, and if in the following description I shall confine myself to the mechanism shown in the drawings it is simply for the reason that the proper functions of the various blow-controlling devices may be easily explained without going into an exhaustive description of their mechanical construction.

In the accompanying drawings,in which similar characters denote similar parts, Figure 1 illustrates the general organization of an automatically-operated hammer embodyL ing my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail of the device for controlling the upward movement of the hammer, and Fig. 3 shows a detail of the device whereby the downward stroke of the hammer is governed.

In the drawings, 10 denotes a block or stone upon which a package of gold to be hammered is to be placed. Mounted for reciprocation above said block is a hammer 11, forming in the present instance a core movable in opposite directions by a pair of oppositely-effective solenoids A and B, the former of which serves to raise the core and will be designated hereinafter as the raising-solenoid, while the latter serves to impart its striking power to the core and will for this reason be termed the striking-solenoid.

Both the solenoids A and B may be separated by a block of wood or other insulating material W not only to avoid electric connection between said solenoids, but, furthermore, to receive terminals or binding-posts, to which the wires forming the circuits for the solenoids may be secured.

The circuit for the raising-solenoid A includes a knife-switch S of the double-pole variety, connected with the main line-wires 12 13, the former of which constitutes the positive line, while the latter is the returnwire. When the switch is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, an electric current is passed from the wire 12, through the switch-arm 14, terminal a, conductor 15, and branch wire 16, to a brush 17, coperative with another brush 18 of a switch mechanism, whereby the solenoid A may be energized at the proper time. This switch mechanism consists, substantially, of a non-conductive cylinder 19, having a partial metallic surface 20', which serves as a connector between the brushes 17 and 18 whenever said brushes are in contact therewith. 'lhe cylinder 19 is mounted upon a shaft 20, connected with a driving-shaft 21--as, for instance, by a nonconductive coupling 22-and is directly operated therefrom, so as to have a continuous rotary movement, while the brushes 17 and 18 are supported on stationary arms 23 and 24, respectively. From the brush 18 a conductor 25 leads to a terminal 26, connected with the coil of the raising-solenoid A, the other end of the coil being connected with the terminal 27, united by a short connection 28 with a terminal 29, from which a conductor 30 leads to terminal I), (see Fig. 1,) which is connected through the switch-arm 31 with a return-wire 13, above referred to.

From the above it will be understood that the action of the solenoid A is an intermittent one, so as to either raise the core 11 or to release it.

The circuit of striking-soleuoid B includes an arm 14 of the switch S, the conductor 15, and the branch wire 32, leading to a brush 33, which is cooperative with a brush 34 of another switch mechanism, comprising a cylinder 35, mounted upon the shaft 21, above mentioned. Electric connection is preferably made 4between the brushes 33 and 34 by a metallic strip 36, whereby the connection between said brushes will be established or broken during the rotation of the cylinder 35. The brush 34 is connected, through a conductor 37, with a terminal 38 of a rheostat R, the arm 39 of which is adapted ,to control the resistance opposed to the passage of an electric current, passing thence through the wire 40 to a terminal 41, which is connected with the coil of the striking-solenoid B, while the other end of said coil is electrically connected with the terminal 29, above referred to, so that the current may pass, through the wire 30, terminal b, and switch-arm 31, to the main return-wire 13.

The switching or controlling devices 19 and 35 are designed to energize the solenoids A and B alternately, and especially the brushes 33 and 34 of the solenoids 35 may be adjusted to conformto the various requirements regarding the hammer-blow to be struck on the gold package G. The brushes 33 and. 34 are mounted on arms 50 and 51, respectively, which are normally stationary and may be held on the bearing-hubs for the shaft 2l in IOO IIO

any suitable manner, provision, however, being made that these arms 50 and 5l may be positioned relatively to each other so that the brushes may be in electrical connection through the intervention of the plate 36 for more or less time, as required. Furthermore, it will be seen that by moving the arms 50 and 5l simultaneously and without increasing or decreasing the distance between the contact-points of the brushes 33 and 3st on the cylinder the initial point of energizing the striking-solenoid may be timed relative to the movement of the core Il, so that said core may have been released by the raising-solenoid and on its downward stroke for some distance before the striking-solenoid becomes in reality operative in applying energy to the hammer ll in addition to that of its own weight.

Now it will be understood from the above statement that not only the length or period of energizing the striking-solenoid B may be Varied by positioning the brushes 33 and 34 relatively to each other, but that, furthermore, the particular moment when said solenoid is to be energized may be regulated as desired. In addition to this adjustment means are provided whereby the strength of the current supplied to the striking-solenoid may be Varied according to the condition of the gold-leaf under process of beating, and for this reason I preferably employ a rheo stat R in the circuit for operating the solenoid I3, so that I am enabled to gradually vary the force of the blow without in any way changing the time of energizing the strikingsolenoid, which is, as has been stated, accomplished by positioning the brushes 33 and 34 relatively to each other.

In the preliminary statement it has been mentioned that it is a very desirable feature to graduallyincrease the speed or rapidity of the reciprocation of the hammer as the work of beating progresses, and hence I preferably employ a multiple speed controllerfor supplying energy 'to the hammer, this controller consisting, substantially, of a multiplespeed switch, which isV formed by adapting the driving-shaft 2l of the switch mechanism to be driven at various speeds-as, for instance, by a pulley P, mounted on the shaft 2l and obtaining movement from any convenient source, it being of course understood that as the speed of the switch is increased the rapidity of reciprocation is also proportionately increased.

Proper attention should be called at this time to the fact that the length of brush'contact depends to a great extent upon the speed of the switches-viz., that the higher the speed of the switch is the less distance there should be between the brushes, so that their actual electric connection for the same length of metallic periphery may be greater than when the switches are operated at a lower speed, this fact being due to the gravitative force of the hammer, which of course CA U remains constant, so that the timing of applying energy and the period of applying such energy must be closely regulated according to the speed with which the hammer descends by its own weight or else is caused to descend by the application of electric energy to strike the required blow.

By my invention I am enabled to operate the hammer ll not only at different speeds, but I am enabled to graduate the strength of the blow by properly timing the application of energy to the striking-solenoid, as well as by regulating the amount of current which performs the work. On the other hand, I am enabled to regulate the hammer-blow by the use of both of these adjustments, and the hammer will perform its work with perfect regularity as soon as the conditions of the current or the positions of the brushes relative to each other are not changed, thus producing an automatically-operated hammer the blow of which is capable of being adjusted to any degree of nicety more particularly required in the gold-beating art.

Means are provided whereby the raisingsolenoid A is individually energized, while the circuit of the striking-solenoid is simultaneously cut out in order to retain the hammer in its elevated position and to permit a new bunch of gold to be placed beneath the hammer. These means consist in the present instance of a circuit leading from the terminal c of the switch S through a conductor 60 to the terminal 26, through the solenoid A to the terminal 27, the conductor 6l, and back to the terminal d of the switch S, both terminals c and CZ being connected with the main wires l2 and 13, respectively, by throwing the switch-arms 14 and 3l into the position 14C and 31', respectively, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, thus disconnecting the terminals a and b, and thereby throwing the circuits controlled by the cylinders 19 and 35 entirely out of action.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination,with a hammer mounted for reciprocation; and a solenoid for imparting movement to said hammer in one direction; of a switch mechanism comprising a rotary contact device; and a normally stationary brush coperative therewith and shiftable for variably timing the initial point of energizing said solenoid relatively to the hammer-stroke.

2. The combination,with a hammer mounted for reciprocation; and a solenoid for imparting movement thereto in one direction; of a switch mechanism comprising a rot-ary contact device; a pair of normally stationary brushes coperative therewith; and means for shifting one of said brushes relatively to the other and for Varying the period of energization of said solenoid during its working stroke.

3. The combination,with a hammer mount- IOC ITO

able for varying the energization of said solenoids, respectively.

5. The combination, with a pair of oppositely-elfective solenoids; a hammer operated thereby; and means for energizing said solenods, alternately; 0l` means for energizing.y the raising-solenoid and cutting out the circuit for the striking-solenoid, simultaneously, to retain the hammer in elevated position.

ERNEST H. SWIFT.

Witnesses:

MATTHEW SWIFT, MATTHEW H. SWIFT. 

